Beer

Beer here: Tomorrow is the Albuquerque leg of the N.M. IPA Challenge!

New Mexico’s ninth annual cage fight de hops (¿cómo se dice“cage fight” en español?) started at High Desert Brewing in Las Cruces on Tuesday, traveled up to Santa Fe Brewing company Thursday, and settles in for the final stop in Albuquerque tomorrow. The gloves come off at Chama River Brewing (4939 Pan American W Fwy NE, 342-1800) from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday.

You, citizen drinker, just pay $20 for a tray of samples from all the participating local brewers—11 of em!—and vote on your favorite. The exciting twist is that the tasting and judging is done blind: You won’t know who’s who until all the votes are in and tallied. There are some extra niceties as well, but let’s get right to the breweries (copied and pasted from nmbeer.org, which flickered on again after an almost yearlong hiatus. Welcome back!):

Blue Corn Cafe & Brewery, Santa Fe

Chama River Brewing, Albuquerque

Hallenbrick Brewing, Albuquerque

High Desert Brewing, Las Cruces

Il Vicino Brewing, Albuquerque

Marble Brewery, Albuquerque

Santa Fe Brewing, Santa Fe

Second Street Brewery, Santa Fe

Rio Grande Brewing, Moriarity

Three Rivers Brewing, Farmington

Turtle Mountain Brewing, Rio Rancho

Even if you can’t make it, pick up next week’s Alibi for ABQ Beer Geek’s recap of the challenge and its bitter winners and losers (hops are bitter, you see, so the winners and the losers ... oh, never mind). And be sure to check www.ABQBeerGeek.com for even more constantly updated beer wisdom. On tap right now: The Beer Geek reports that it’s Il Vicino Tap Room’s last night at their current location. (Look for the new place at 2381 Aztec NE sometime in or after September.) He has pictures, too.